Data show Warriors’ Green frequently gets back late on defense

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green reacts to a call in the first quarter during Game 2 of the First Round of the Western Conference 2017 NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 in Oakland, Calif. less

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green reacts to a call in the first quarter during Game 2 of the First Round of the Western Conference 2017 NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 in Oakland, ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green reacts to a call in the first quarter during Game 2 of the First Round of the Western Conference 2017 NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 in Oakland, Calif. less

Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green reacts to a call in the first quarter during Game 2 of the First Round of the Western Conference 2017 NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 in Oakland, ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Data show Warriors’ Green frequently gets back late on defense

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Draymond Green is the Warriors’ brash, emotional leader. On a team filled with reserved personalities, the All-Star forward’s fiery demeanor has been a driving force behind Golden State’s run of at least 67 wins in each of the past three seasons.

The same bravado that makes Green a Defensive Player of the Year front-runner is a big reason he is regularly late running back on defense, per a FiveThirtyEight report published Wednesday. The author, Chris Herring, pored over data from SportVU — a system of six cameras that measures the movements of players on the court — and plenty of video to determine that Green leads the league in “lag rate” — how often someone crosses halfcourt more than three seconds after the ball.

According to Herring’s analysis, Green has a lag rate of 20 percent — 1 percentage point more than Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and John Wall. Herring found that Green is late running back on defense for one of two main reasons: He is upset with himself for making a mistake on the previous offensive possession, or he is complaining to a referee.

The Warriors tend to hold off opponents until Green, who finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second in the NBA with 15 technical fouls, crosses halfcourt. The results of this study, of course, shouldn’t affect Green’s chances of winning his first Defensive Player of the Year Award. He just may have built enough of a resume to beat out Rudy Gobert and Kawhi Leonard, who won the award the previous two seasons.

Injury update: Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said before Game 2 that Kevin Durant, Shaun Livingston and Matt Barnes are “healing and on the right path” to play Game 3 on Saturday at Portland. By resting Wednesday, they have five days between games to recover.